


eternity under an olive tree

by ceraunos



Series: old guard prompts [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26916712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceraunos/pseuds/ceraunos
Summary: The first time he asked, laid out under an olive tree older than them, his hair sticking to the flushed sheen of sweat on Nicolò’s chest, Nicolò had laughed. He’d felt the vibrations of it through his throat, gentle and warm.‘Habibi, a priest can’t get married, surely you know this.’‘A priest, my ass,’ Yusuf had countered.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: old guard prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1963957
Comments: 13
Kudos: 260





	eternity under an olive tree

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt 'smiling into a kiss'

The first time he asked, laid out under an olive tree older than them, his hair sticking to the flushed sheen of sweat on Nicolò’s chest, Nicolò had laughed. He’d felt the vibrations of it through his throat, gentle and warm.

‘Habibi, a priest can’t get married, surely you know this.’

‘A priest, my ass,’ Yusuf had countered, teeth nipping at the soft skin of Nicolò’s hip and delighting as he squirmed into and away from the touch all at once.

‘If you were a still a priest,’ he had murmured into the curve of his stomach, lips tracing dark hair lower, ‘we would not – be doing –,’ he paused to mouth at the crease of Nicolò’s thigh until the skin bloomed bruised and sensitive and he could feel Nicolò hard against his cheek, ‘this.’

When he glanced up, tracing circles on his thighs as he shivered under him, Nicolò was watching him with wide, unfocused eyes.

‘Unless, oh pio Nicolò, I should stop?’ He asked, sitting back and biting down on a grin as Nicolò had twisted up empty air, chasing him.

‘Stronzo, amore, come back here,’ Nicolò had sworn, voice catching on a low moan when Yusuf leant back in, laughing into the kiss he pressed to his navel and then lower.

‘It would be nice,’ Nicolò had murmured afterwards, the words slurred with sleep and whispered into Yusuf’s forehead, ‘to be married.’

~

In the autumn of 1187, Jerusalem is reclaimed as a Muslim city and a new Pope begins the call for fresh violence even as the Latin East crumbles between his fingers.

At the same time, Yusuf kisses Nicolò under an olive tree not quite as old as them and slips a simple hand-wrought band onto his finger.

‘For eternity,’ he promises, and Nicolò answers by tracing the line of the matching band on Yusuf’s hand.

‘Until the end.’

**\+ many, many years later.**

They hear it on the street, even before Nicky flicks on the ancient television set to confirm it. They both have someone else’s blood in their hair, and Joe’s lost two teeth that are slowly, very painfully, starting to reform.

The rolling headlines are showing two women kissing outside the parliament buildings holding a certificate. It takes Nicky a long moment to realise he recognises them under the glasses and hair extensions and he shakes his head fondly at the screen.

Outside someone sets off a firework, and when Joe tips his head out of the window a flurry of multi-coloured confetti lands in his hair. He whoops into the sound of celebration hollering up from the crowds below, grabbing a flag that someone throws up at him.

When he turns Nicky is beside him, looping an arm over his shoulders and pressing a wet kiss into his neck.

‘Marry me?’ Joe shouts, fighting to be heard over the noise all around them.

‘Again?’

‘Always.’

‘ _Always,_ ’ Nicky repeats, lacing their fingers together and pulling Joe in to meet him.

When he smiles into the kiss, a gentle laugh bubbling up between them, it feels like the first time, all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr [here](https://ceraunos.tumblr.com/) \- my inbox is currently open to prompts x


End file.
